First Name
by CrazedMango
Summary: Rukia woke up on the streets, with nothing but her first name. Found by Ichigo in the gutters, will she remember her previous life and how she came to live without a home? Will Ichigo come to terms with living with a midget? IchiRuki- Please R


Hey guys! Nothing much to say, except that I don't really know where I'm going with this. I know that I want it to be more sinister and dark, but we'll see about that. This idea has been in my head for a while.

Disclaimer: Kubo Tite owns all.

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She couldn't walk anymore. She couldn't lift her head up. She was exhausted, hungry, lost and confused. She couldn't remember the last time she had some food… or the number of days it had been since she woke up in an alley and started living on the streets.

She couldn't remember her full name. She screwed her eyes shut and clutched her stomach, and thought of the one thing that made her extremely sure she did not belong on the streets. _Rukia_, she thought._ I am Rukia. My life is more than just fumbling through the gutters._

She felt her knees give away and the dirty pavement beneath her. Rukia knew that she could have found sustenance… there were so many garbage cans, rotting with fast food and decayed matter. But she wouldn't degrade herself to that. _I am much more than this._ Many people who walked passed her flicked bread at her, pityingly, as if she was some sort of animal. Defiantly, she always ignored those people. _I am no beggar. I will eat with what I earn._

She settled alongside the brick wall she was against, and tried to be comfortable. Accustomed to the dirt around her, she was too tired to care she was in a filthy environment.

_I do not belong here._ Rukia always had flashes of her life before waking up to being homeless, but it did not help her remember her identity. She saw a nice house, a man who cared for her… elegance. She knew that she was upper class. _Rukia, Rukia, Rukia,_ She chanted to herself. The only thing she could hold on to now was her first name.

She just sat there thinking, her knees drawn up close to her face, too hungry to sleep, too tired to search for food in a dignified manner. _Why am I in this situation? What life did I have before this? Surely not this._

She heard snickers above her. Her head snapped up, her exhaustion and hunger temporarily gone.

Her eyes narrowed as she placed her gaze on three men, looming over her. She quickly stood up and set her body in a defensive position.

"Why, look here… the little whore just woke up." one of the men said lightly. He looked around his mid twenties, the tallest of the three. Rukia knew that if she had some food in her stomach, she could have taken this guy easy, no hustle.

"I'm not a prostitute," she spat at him.

The same man laughed and said, "She's a rebel, this one. Could be real pretty, if we cleaned her up. Look, honey. We've been following you for a couple of days. We know you have no place to go. You could be a real addition to the brothel downtown, earn some money and have a roof over your head. I'm not offering, honey. You're coming with us. We don't have to hurt you, if you don't make a fuss."

Rukia's mind processed everything he said. Hey eyes widened when she understood what he meant. "You're trying to pimp me? No way, you bastard!"

And then she tried to make a run for it.

It was futile, she should have realized that. Rukia couldn't help but being amused by her miscalculations at a time like this. How could she have possibly deluded herself into thinking she could have gotten away?

As one of the men wrapped his hands around her wrists, she did the one thing her mind was instinctively and intelligently telling her to do… _scream._

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Ichigo scowled as he kicked a can on the side walk. Another boring, repetitive day. College, a couple of hours at Urahara's… back home, hit the books while trying to avoid Keigo and his ideas of a weekend.

He didn't understand why he was so discontent. He shrugged as if to dispel the brooding aura around him and continued walking.

"Let GO of me, you bastard! Let fucking go NOW, or-" the rest of the cry was muffled by something… or someone?

The orange haired man looked around him, trying to detect the source of the commotion.

"You son of a BITCH!" the same woman's voice screeched. Ichigo ran toward an alley. Maybe a couple had gotten into an argument?

When he turned on the narrow path, he was shocked to see three men manhandling a young girl… perhaps aged 16, or 17… She seemed to be giving a good fight and those men a hell whole lot of trouble. The girl kept her eyes locked on his. She seemed furious.

_Shouldn't she be scared?_

"Hey!" Ichigo shouted. The turmoil momentarily ceased.

"Looks like the kid wants you to leave her alone. Why don't you guys step aside?" _Since when am I so fucking gallant?_

The men stared at him as if he had announced he was going to have a tea party. Then they all attacked Ichigo at the same time.

Luckily, they didn't seem as if they were any buff, or if they were experienced fighters. He took the first two down easy, just a couple of punches. The last man wasn't as simple, that thug was definitely going to leave some bruises. The man grabbed Ichigo's neck and tried to suffocate him. Ichigo gave him a good, swift kick in the nuts. The thug keeled over in pain.

"Don't look for trouble here anymore, got it?" Ichigo snarled, giving him a kick for each word he uttered.

Then, straightening his back and stretching his arms, he turned around to face the girl, and said, "Look, miss, you-"

_Where the fuck is she?_ Ichigo cursed. That ungrateful little brat. Couldn't he get a thanks?

He looked behind him and kicked one of the men lying face down on the ground, to release his irritation and for good measure. Then he started his way out of the alley, muttering to himself along the way._ Kids these days have no respect…Don't show some goddamn manners._

He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the same girl, by the side of the corner, panting, head down, and hands on her knees. She was out of breath and resting at the side of the wall. Ichigo hadn't really taken a good look at the girl before. He realized that she probably didn't have a home, and looked a little young to be thrown on to the streets. She was covered in a kind of dirt that made him sure that it had been a while since she properly bathed, or even changed clothes. Stranger still, though, were her clothes. She was wearing a pretty, or once pretty, silver dress, delicately embroidered but now grimy and frayed. It didn't look like something she could afford. Where had she gotten it? _Maybe she's a hooker… and she was fighting with her pimp. Probably ran away or something._ Ichigo was almost sure she was a prostitute, because they were in a corrupt district. But some how, it didn't seem like it at all. The girl looked like she was bearing some kind of dignity and innocence, despite her situation. Ichigo also couldn't place her age. She had the worn appearance of maturity, but was built a little young. She looked very petite.

After a solid two minutes Ichigo was staring at her, trying to figure out what she was, the girl glanced up at him, noticing his presence. Now finally aware that she was being observed, she looked at Ichigo with her big, violet eyes.

"I…" she began, closing her lids, as if in pain. She looked faint. "I…" she repeated.

_Is this girl retarded? Maybe she can't speak well. She was shouting pretty enthusiastically earlier. Shouting things that a normal girl wouldn't_, Ichigo thought.

He waited for her to continue. Instead, she collapsed and fell to the floor.

_What the hell?!_ Ichigo was surprised. He hadn't been expecting that. He knelt down beside the girl, and checked her pulse. Why had she been knocked out? Exhaustion, fear, shock? All three, maybe.

"Oi! Little girl! Can you here me?" He slapped her cheeks a couple of times.

Even more irritated now, Ichigo debated whether or not he should just leave her there. Then he felt disgusted with himself for even thinking that. He grumbled while picking her up, slinging her elfin frame over one of his shoulders. He was so goddamned chivalrous today.

He was amazed that the girl weighed even less than he imagined. She was also comically short, at least compared to him. _Maybe she's a midget, _he mused.

Should he take her to the hospital? _No. If she really is a hooker or just homeless there'd be too much trouble. The chick doesn't have any ID on her either._

He sighed and realized that his only option was to bring her home, let her rest a bit… then get rid of her. His apartment wasn't a charity home for hobos.

When he arrived at his place, he dropped the girl unceremoniously on his sofa. Almost grudgingly too. He was gawking at her for a while, unable to leave the room._ Little midget… messing up my upholstery. She better not drool or anything! Damn it, she's smudging her dirty arms everywhere! Filthy little…_

Ichigo sat opposite of her, waiting for her to wake. He grew tired of waiting, though. Maybe he should throw some water at her? Ichigo was glad he didn't need to; she was stirring up by herself.

She sat up, rubbing her eyes with tiny fists._ It's like a baby's hand,_ Ichigo thought.

The girl, alert that she was in a stranger's home, turned to glare at Ichigo. _Damn, where's the soft look she was giving me before she fainted? Not a good sign._

"Who are you? Why have you kidnapped me? I told you before, I'm not a prostitute! I don't want a freaking pimp!" she had a surprisingly firm voice for a small girl.

_So I was wrong. Serves me right to assume things like that, _Ichigo thought. Then his brain swallowed what she had said before those statements. _What? I didn't kidnap her! She should be showing me some more gratitude!_

"What the hell are you talking about? I just saved your ass from those punks. If you hadn't fainted on me, this wouldn't have happened! At least I had the decency to help you, and this is how you thank me?!" Ichigo was fuming. _That ignorant little midget._

The midget kept burning holes through his eyes, unfazed. "How do I know you aren't some kind of sick pervert? Or that you're associated with those guys?" she countered.

Ichigo rubbed his temples. This was going to be a long day.

And the last time he'd help a midget hobo.

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"Look, for the last _time,_ I was only trying to help you. I am not attempting to be your pimp. If you don't believe me, you can just walk out the door. I'm not forcing you to stay here." The man reasoned with Rukia.

"What if there are hooligans outside? Waiting to ambush me?" She asked, untrustingly. Rukia knew what happened in stories like these. A young girl wakes up in an odd man's home, and is forced to do unseemly things. What if he had stolen her purity while she was asleep? After what had happened with those three guys before, she wasn't sure she could have confidence in the man's words.

He told her calmly, "There are NO hooligans. I don't know how I can convince you, but just believe me, the only reason you are here is because I was trying to _help_ you."

Rukia's resolve was wavering. The orange hair baboon must be right. She didn't know why she was letting herself be convinced. His face looked vaguely familiar… as if she'd seen it in another life, or in a dream. His scowl seemed to be permanently etched to his mouth, and his eyes were similarly slanted. Rukia suddenly felt bad for giving him a hard time.

She looked down to her lap. Unwillingly, she said, "I'm sorry. It's just that it's been very difficult for me lately. Please excuse my discourtesy, and thank you for helping me before." She sounded sincere, and she really was. Only for a moment, though. She decided to lap it up. "Can we just start over?" Rukia said shyly to her folded hands, still looking down in an effort to look modest. She had a feeling that in her old life, before the streets, she used this phony attitude a lot, because she sounded really good at it.

When she looked up again, the man's face looked astonished. She resisted the urge to smirk. He wasn't expecting that, was he? He must be falling for her good girl charm._ Damn, using all that politeness makes me hungry… hopefully I can get this guy to give me some food._

The man's eyes narrowed. "I'm not falling for that act. I have two little sisters, you know. Anyway, I accept your apology. My name's Ichigo." _What a peculiar name for a boy. Still, nice to put name to that face. Huh, and he saw through my screen. _

"My name is Rukia." Her name sounded strange to her aloud, since for a while, she'd only been saying it in her head.

Ichigo held out his hand to her. She was about to shake it, but he abruptly pulled it back before she could even graze it.

"You know what? I don't normally shake hands with a dirty hobo. Maybe after you wash up, though."

How dare he say that! "Do you normally get strangled by hobos? Because I can make that happen."

Ichigo grinned. "Why don't you go wash up, and I'll make you something to eat, okay? You might need a chair to reach the sink, though; it's not manufactured for midgets."

Rukia seethed. "Manufactured for idiots, then, is it?"

If it wasn't for the fact that this Ichigo would give her food, she would have totally beaten him up.

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Review? Please? I'd love an in depth review.

Thanks for reading, you guys ROCK. Oh yeah, next chapter'll be up sometime this week. Gracias for being patient!


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